Spotify is Getting Video Ads

Hey Spotify users, your favourite streaming app is going to be plastered with video ads soon. The company's Spotify for Brands initiative wants to get Spotify's 30 million free listeners to sit through visual adverts in addition to the regular audio ads.

There will be two types of video ads in Spotify. "Video Takeover" does exactly what it says. The Spotify app on your desktop will take 15-30 second ad breaks as a giant video takes over.

"Sponsored Sessions", meanwhile, are aimed at mobile listeners, and allow companies to sponsor 30 minutes of uninterrupted listening in exchange for sitting through a video first.

What is intriguing is a report by The Next Web, which says that the video ads on the desktop ads will play only if the app is "active" (not minimised). Which is strange. Most of us have our Spotify apps firmly minimised while we're doing something else. If this is the case, it would be fairly easy to get around watching videos ads, at least on the desktop.

Coca-Cola, Ford, McDonald's and Universal Pictures have signed on as the ads' first global buyers, while Kraft Foods, Target and Wells Fargo will be the US-only launch advertisers, repotsAdAge. [The Next Web]